This study examined the Success Boston program at Salem State University which aims to increase college completion among inner city youth. It analyzed data from 85 past participants in the program's Summer Bridge Academy, looking at factors like GPA, SAT scores, loan debt, retention rates, and more. The results found that a higher percentage of females than males achieved a GPA over 2.0 in both semesters. It also found that students with higher high school GPAs on average had less loan debt and higher GPAs after the first year. The study provides implications but notes limitations around sample size and recommends further research.

1. SUCCESS BOSTON AT SSU: A
DESCRIPTIVE STUDY
by Kevin DeRuosi, Mike Ahern, Izabela Kaczynska, Thom
as Ortiz

2. PROBLEM
● Challenge: Increasing the education
level attainment
● How can more students be engaged
to be successful in higher education?
● Inner city youth demographics and
post-secondary success
● Increase in high school college
completion initiatives
● Success Boston Student recruitment
at Salem State University

3. RESEARCH PROBLEM
● What does research say about college
completion initiatives in high schools
and summer bridge programs?
● Are these programs successfully
preparing Salem State students
● Is the additional cost of attending a
Summer Bridge Program worth it for
students with academic deficiencies
entering post-secondary education

4. HYPOTHESIS
Success Boston Students who participate and complete Salem State University’
s, Summer Bridge Program (SBP), will achieve a higher or equal GPA and
retention rate in their first year because of the additional exposure they
received in High School than the overall first year population at Salem State
University.
NULL:
Regardless of their exposure to Success Boston programming in High School,
students completing the Summer Bridge Academy will not exhibit any overall
positive or negative outcome.

5. SAMPLE
● 85 participants
● 28 males
● 57 females
● three cohorts of SBA students over past five
years

6. DESIGN - Descriptive Study
● Upon approval from the institution we collected the following data: Age, Gender,
High School GPA, SAT Score, First and Second Term GPA, Parent’s Highest Grade
Completed, Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) [as determined by FAFSA] and
Total Loan Debt at the end of the First Academic Year.
● Data was delivered by the Office of Institutional Advancement and Development
stripped of all identifying information
● Analysis would utilize basic descriptive statistic to reach quantitative summaries
of the data elements
● These summaries were then studied and observations/trends were extracted
using simple bivariate analysis.

7. INSTRUMENTS
The statistical data used:
● High School GPA, SAT/ACT Scores,
● Term & CUM GPA for freshman year,
● Enrollment status at culmination of 1st year,
● Pell eligibility,
● 1st generation student status,
● Aggregate loan totals at end of first year.

8. RESULTS

9. RESULTS

10. RESULTS
Female vs Male GPAs (for both semesters)
71.4% 71.4%
74.5%
57.7%
%ofFemaleandMaleGPAof2.0orbetter

11. RESULTS
Tyson, C. (2014). To maximize graduation rates, colleges should focus on middle-range students, research shows

12. RESULTS
Average Loan Debt High School GPA
< 2.0 GPA after 2nd
SSU
Semester
Males
> 2.0 GPA after 2nd
SSU
Semester
Males
< 2.0 GPA after 2nd
SSU
Semester
Females
> 2.0 GPA after 2nd
SSU
Semester
Females

13. LIMITATIONS
Research Sample:
● Using a target sampling method that focused on a sub-group (Success Boston
Students) within an already existing sub-group (Summer Bridge Academy [SBA])
limited our ability to have an equal amount of males and females.
● This we feel affected our ability to gain a fully accurate portrayal of the selected
student population. For this reason, we feel that results of the analysis should be
viewed as “trends” as opposed to statistical fact.
● One data element studied, Total Loan Debt, additionally hindered our sample
size. Prior to institutional policy changes in 2009, SBA program participants were
not eligible to have federal aid applied to their summer expenses . This limited
the number of cohorts we could retrieve data from, without skewing analysis
results.

14. IMPLICATIONS
● Our study suggests that when recruiting and admitting Success Boston Students to the
Summer Bridge Academy, administrators may wish to direct their focus to students
possessing high school GPA’s on the higher end of the range.
● Conversely, attention should be paid to male students High School GPA , focusing primarily
on those which plot on higher end of the range.
● Doing so not only would enhance the success rate of the students enrolled, justifying, to a
degree the additional loan debt incurred by attending the SBA. Additionally, it could
strengthen the degree attainment rate for the program overall.
● Before making any commitment to changing admission standards, a full study should be
conducted. The study should be two-fold:
1. A descriptive study of all Success Boston Students, active or inactive, enrolled at
Salem State University
2. A Comparative Study of Success Boston Students against other students with like
demographics, from similar school districts in Massachusetts